Quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt
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To leave the world richer--that is the ultimate success.

It seems to me of great importance to teach children respect for life.

The basis of world peace is the teaching which runs through almost all the great religions of the world. Love thy neighbor as thyself.

It is a curious thing in human experience, but to live through a period of stress and sorrow with another person, creates a bond which nothing seems able to break.

We have reached a point today where labor-saving devices are good only when they do not throw the worker out of his job.

To undo a mistake is always harder than not to create one originally but we seldom have the foresight. Therefore we have no choice but to try to correct our past mistakes.

I have a great objection to seeing anyone, particularly anyone whom I care about, lose his self-control.

Once your children are grown up and have children of their own, the problems are theirs and the less the older generation interferes the better.

The mobilization of world opinion and methods of negotiation should be developed and used by every nation in order to strengthen the United Nations.

This is a time for action -- not for war, but for mobilization of every bit of peace machinery.

You never have a normal family relationship in the White House; it's an impossible thing to have. You live in a goldfish bubble, and you snatch what you can for a personal life, but you never have a normal, natural existence.

The word communist, of course, has become a rallying cry for certain people here just as the word Jew was in Hitler's Germany, a way of arousing emotion without engendering thought.

I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role.

A democratic form of government, a democratic way of life, presupposes free public education over a long period; it presupposes also an education for personal responsibility that too often is neglected.

The only joy in this hard life is serving others.

Sailors have the cleanest bodies and the filthiest minds.

A society in which there is widespread economic insecurity can turn freedom into a barren and vapid right for millions of people.

If it's a man's game so decidedly that a woman would be soiled by entering it, then there is something radically wrong with the American game of politics.

We must do that which we think we cannot.

Life was meant to be lived.

There is nothing to regret, either for those who go, or for those who stay behind -- only an inheritance of good accomplishment to be lived up to by those who carry a loving memory in their hearts.

I carried it (a revolver) religiously and during the summer I asked a friend, a man who had been one of Franklin's bodyguards in New York State, to give me some practice in target shooting so that if the need arose I would know how to use the gun.

The term 'young adults' which is so often used today seems to me a misnomer, and one which, if taken seriously, may lead the adolescent into misunderstanding as to his nature and his role in life. 'Young he is; 'adult' he is not.

Be flexible, but stick to your principles.

Great leaders inspire people to have confidence in themselves.

Some people are going to leave a mark on this world, while others will leave a stain.

You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.

No matter how avid they themselves may be for praise and appreciation, people are often niggardly in giving it to others, however merited it is.

If you want a world ruled by law and not by force you must build up, from the very grassroots, a respect for law.

When it's better for everyone, it's better for everyone.

Each time you learn something new you must readjust the whole framework of your knowledge.

Every woman wants to be first to someone sometime in her life and that desire is the explanation for many strange things women do.

To be mature you have to realize what you value most... Not to arrive at a clear understanding of one's own values is a tragic waste. You have missed the whole point of what life is for.

If you can develop this ability to see what you look at, to understand its meaning, to readjust your knowledge to this new information, you can continue to learn and to grow as long as you live and you'll have a wonderful time doing it.

If we do not pay for children in good schools, then we are going to pay for them in prisons and mental hospitals.

Do not be afraid of mistakes, provided you do not make the same one twice.

You never know anyone until you marry them.

Lest I keep my complacent way I must remember somewhere out there a person died for me today. As long as there must be war, I ask and I must answer was I worth dying for?

No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war.

Poor minds talk about people. Average minds talk about events. Great minds talk about ideas.

The kind of man who thinks that helping with the dishes is beneath him will also think that helping with the baby is beneath him, and then he certainly is not going to be a very successful father.

Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again.

Philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes.

It is curious how much more interest can be evoked by a mixture of gossip, romance and mystery than by facts.

Surely, in the light of history, it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try. For one thing we know beyond all doubt: nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says: it can't be done.

The greatest gift you can give a child is an imagination.

We all create the person we become by our choices as we go through life. In a real sense, by the time we are adults, we are the sum total of the choices we have made.

Pit race against race, religion against religion, prejudice against prejudice. Divide and conquer! We must not let that happen here.

Beautiful old people are works of art.

Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?

Curiosity must be kept alive.

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home.

Do one thing everyday that scares you. Those small things that make us uncomfortable help us build courage to do the work we do.

You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give.

The choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.

Before we can make friends with anyone else, we must first make friends with ourselves.

Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one.

Courage is exhilarating.

What could we accomplish if we knew we could not fail?

You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.

When you look fear in the face, you are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'

I think somehow we learn who we really are and then we live with that decision.

If you approach each new person you meet in a spirit of adventure, you will find yourself endlessly fascinated by the new channels of thought and experience and personality that you encounter.

A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping-stone to the optimist.

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.

If you lose money you lose much, If you lose friends you lose more, If you lose faith you lose all.

A woman is like a tea bag -- you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.

The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.

True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on Earth.

We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.

I wish with all my heart that every child could be so imbued with a sense of the adventure of life that each change, each readjustment, each surprise -- good or bad -- that came along would be welcomed as part of the whole enthralling experience.

I am convinced that every effort must be made in childhood to teach the young to use their own minds. For one thing is sure: If they don't make up their minds, someone will do it for them.

Anger is only one letter short of danger.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.

No man is defeated without until he has first been defeated within.

Happiness is not a goal -- it's a by-product of a life well lived.

As for accomplishments, I just did what I had to do as things came along.

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

The Bible illustrated by Dore occupied many of my hours -- and I think probably gave me many nightmares.

There are practical little things in housekeeping which no man really understands.

It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

The only advantage of not being too good a housekeeper is that your guests are so pleased to feel how very much better they are.

The giving of love is an education in itself.

People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.

It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.